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With Reuben Goossens

Maritime Historian

,
Author, Cruise‘n’Ship Reviewer and Maritime Lecturer

Please
Note: All ssMaritime and other
related maritime/cruise sites are 100% non-commercial and privately owned. Be
assured that I am NOT associated with any shipping or cruise companies or any
travel/cruise agencies or any other organisations! Although the author has been
in the passenger shipping industry since 1960, although is now retired but
having completed over 690 Classic Liners and Cargo-Passengers
Ships features I trust these will continue to provide classic ship
enthusiasts the information they are seeking, but above all a great deal of
pleasure!

Part Two - MS Achille Lauro her Story

Sale and Rebuilding of the Ship:

By the end of 1964, due to poor passenger
loadings the once popular Dutch, Royal Rotterdam Lloyd liner MS Willem Ruys was
with great sadness laid up in Rotterdam.
In addition, around the same time her running mate the Netherland Line MS
Oranje was also laid up in Amsterdam.
These two fine rivals were placed on the market and were soon sold in January
1965 to the famed Italian Shipping Company “Lauro Lines,” also
known as “Flotta Lauro Line.”

The Willem Ruys was officially
handed over on January 6, 1965 and she was renamed Achille Lauro after the
managing director of the Lauro Line, whilst she was still in Rotterdam.

Here we see the bow of the Willem Ruys having been sold to Flotta Lauro
Lines and

a stencil was used to add the name
‘Achille Lauro’ above the ships original name

She departed Rotterdam
and headed for Palermo, Italy where she would be extensively be rebuilt
into an ultramodern Liner and Cruise Ship at the “Cantieri Navali
Riuniti” at their Palermo
shipyards.

As reconstruction was close to completion, and
they were ready to fit her newly reshaped aft funnel, but suddenly on August
29, 1965 Achille Lauro was rocked by an explosion with a raging fire braking
out. Finally, when the fire was extinguished and the ship was declared safe,
work continued, but obviously her completion was delayed.

Here
we see the ship still burning after the explosion on August 29, 1965

A view of the
Achille Lauro later with her modernised superstructure and her new funnels
fitted

Externally
some significant changes made to this already beautiful ship, the most obvious
being her new sharply raked bow, giving her an additional 12ft in length. Then
there were her two brand new higher slim-line stylish funnels, which were
topped by sloped upwards twin smoke dispersers providing the Achille Lauro a
better dispersion of her diesel fumes, as well as providing her with a
distinctive look. The funnels were painted blue, with a traditional Flotta
Lauro logo being a white star being added and the smoke dispersers were black.

A close up
of her funnels and the forward superstructure

Flotta
Lauro released this postcard of the Achille Lauro prior to her completion

Apart
from her new tall modern funnels with twin bladed smoke deflectors, her
promenade deck was extended far forward with glazing, whilst her upper also
glazed aft in order to protect the First Class swimming pool from the wind. Her
hull was repainted blue with just some white on the forward top of the bow
section and red boot topping. The previous forward and aft main masts were
removed and a new shapely Signal and Radar mast was fitted just behind the
Bridge.

An agents
publicity cardboard cut out of the Achille Lauro, I saved and retain in my
small maritime museum

Undoubtedly, she was a magnificent sight,
considering she was designed pre-WW2 and was ordered to be built in 1938, yet
upon completion of her rebuild and refit she looked very much like a new and a
modern liner. Her gross tonnage had been increased to 23,629 and her length
from 631ft to 643ft, this 12ft longer than before. This was due to her shapely
new raked bow! Her new passenger capacity was as follows; 270 First Class and
917 Tourist Class, although there were a good number of cabins which were
interchangeable between the classes.

Maiden Voyage:

When completed
Achille Lauro sailed for Rotterdam the Netherlands,
being her original homeport, it had been decided to commence her duties there
in honour of her proud Dutch heritage. From there she would commence her
official maiden voyage as she departed Rotterdam
on April 7, 1966 and sailed across the North Sea to Southampton
arriving on April 8.

The
all-new MS Achille Lauro seen in Southampton
whilst on April 8, during her maiden voyage

Sent in by a supporter, but does not wish any
credit, but thank you JCS

From
Southampton she headed for Genoa, arriving on
April 13, and continued via the Suez Canal to Fremantle (Perth)
Western Australia
where she arrived on May 4. She then sailed along, what can be the treacherous
“Great Australian Bight or the “Southern Ocean” to Melbourne
arriving on May 8 and she arrived in Sydney on May 10, 1966, where she was
welcomed by a great crowd of people, as well as countless Dutch folk and
Italians!

From
Sydney, she then made a return voyage to
Wellington New Zealand, arriving on May 14, being her final destination of her
maiden voyage to Australia
and New Zealand.
Returning to Sydney, she headed back to Rotterdam via the same ports, except making an additional port
of call, to Singapore.

Achille
Lauro seen departing Singapore
on her way back to Europe

The Achille Lauro even played a special role
in evacuating the families of British servicemen who were caught up in the
unrest in Aden, Yemen and she
made one of the very last northbound transits through the Suez Canal before it was closed during June 1967’s Six
Day War between Egypt and Israel. The Suez Canal
was shut down by the Egyptian government and blocked on either side by mines
and scuttled ships, but, thankfully it was reopened on
June, 5, 1975.

Due to the closure of the Canal, both the
Achille Lauro and her running mate the rebuilt Angelina Lauro, ex MS Oranje,
continued on the Australia liner service into the 1970s, but like all other
ships on the Australian service, she now had to sail via South Africa and many
returned via the Panama Canal, thus operating a around the world service. She
would make five return voyages to Australia
and New Zealand
each year.

A
streamlined Achille Lauro, was the ship that pioneered the first ever

low-slung aluminium lifeboats when
built as the MS Willem Ruys in 1946

However, the Achille Lauro did operate a
unique voyage for her return to Europe, for she departed Sydney on September
28, 1969, sailed via Wellington, Papeete, Tahiti and headed for South America
including a call to Rio De Janeiro, before heading for Southampton and
Rotterdam, etc. She undertook one further voyage via South
Africa and returning via South
America.

However, during her liner voyages, the MS
Achille Lauro was also operating a few cruises out of Sydney,
as well as Rotterdam,
which were proving to be very popular!

Achille Lauro May 1972 to September 1985:

During the 1972 and 1985 a great deal of
turmoil would happen to both the Achille Lauro and Flotta Lauro Lines, for we
will see the end of the liner voyages to and from Australia and New Zealand,
but not her final visit there, as she would return as a full time cruise ship
later. There will be collisions, and bankruptcy, and so much more. Thus read
on, it is fascinating!

In 1972 Flotta Lauro decided to give the
Achille Lauro an overhaul and she headed for Genoa in May 1972. However, it seems that
whenever she is in a shipyard, she appears to be a plagued ship, for whilst work
was underway, her forward superstructure, right up to the bridge was swept by
fire on May 19, and she suffered considerable damage, it took five months
before she able return to her duties again.

By now Flotta Lauro had already decided that
due to low passenger loadings, the Achille Lauro would be withdrawn from her
Australian Passenger Liner service. Thus when her overhaul was completed, she
again headed for Rotterdam and departed on October 13, 1972 and sailed via her usual
ports of call to Sydney,
from where she operated a summer season of short cruises, which proved to be
very popular.

Achille
Lauro operating cruises out of Sydney,
she is seen here returning from a cruise

Having cruised from Australia
and New Zealand waters for
almost four months she departed Sydney in
February 1973, for her voyage home to Genoa,
sailing via the Suez, Rotterdam,
and Southampton.

The
Achille Lauro is seen in Genoa ready to depart
for her very first cruise 14 night/15 day cruise of the Eastern
Mediterranean

The Achille Lauro now became a full time
cruise ship based in Genoa and she would operate 14 night Eastern Mediterranean
cruises, always departing on a Saturday, with ports as follows; Genoa, Naples,
Alexandra, Port Said, Beirut, Haifa, Istanbul, Piraeus, Capri, Genoa.
1975’76 fares commenced from £386 or September 2016 - A$679, for an
inside twin bedded cabin to £642 or A$1,149, for a
twin or queen sized bedded Suite with a verandah. Whilst at the end of the year
she operates a special Christmas cruise, this time departing Genoa on a Tuesday
December 21, 1975 visiting the same ports, which was badly planned, for it
would have been better if the ship had been in Israel on, or close to Christmas
day!, but it called into Haifa on the 28th.for the
day. When she returned to Genoa she departed on
another cruise, but then January 18, 1976 she commenced a 65 day Grand Voyage
to the Far East with a fascinating list of
ports of call!

-

For her cruise duties her passenger numbers
were extensively reduced, although her official ship plan for these cruises did
still show her as being a Two Class ship, but I do believe that she operated as
an 800-passenger One Class Cruise ship!

However, whilst the Achille Lauro was
sailing through the Dardanelles she collided
with a 497-ton Lebanese Cattle Carrier, the MS Youssef,
which rapidly sank, her crew were rescued, but one of the Youssef’s
crewmembers died. The Achille Lauro sustained no damage of significance and
therefore she was able to continue her cruise.

Charter Agreements:

The Achille Lauro
being a modern looking ship both externally and internally, she was popular
with the European traveller and German Tourist companies found that she was the
ideal cruise ship for them and chartered her for several years. Thereafter it
were the South African’s who chartered her for five months from November
1979 to March 1980 and they repeated this charter for another two seasons.

However, when the Achille Lauro was on a
cruise from South Africa
in November 1981, a blaze broke out in the bar, but during an evacuation three
passengers were killed although the fire was apparently rapidly extinguished.
According to reports, a female passenger in utter fear jumped overboard and
sadly drowned. And her husband upon hearing the news had a heart attack and
passed away onboard, although no details is known regarding the third death.
Once again she had to be taken out of service for a short time.

There was no doubt, but Achille Lauro’s
bad luck seemed to keep up with her, from the day she was taken over by Flotta
Lauro Lines. Originally, when she was the MS Willem Ruys she had the nickname
of being the “Lucky Ship” because she sat unscathed throughout WW2
in her dock partially built, despite all the bombing and the attempts to destroy
her, yet the ship that should have been destroyed became a great Dutch Liner!
But even whilst she was being rebuilt into the Achille Lauro she was wildly
ablaze and her bad luck some how followed repeatedly and sadly this would
continue to her very last day!!

Yet, I still love this amazingly beautiful
ship, but sadly her trials were far from over as much more was yet to come!

Towards the end of 1981, Flotta Lauro Lines
were encountering severe financial problems and already some of their cargo
fleet had been impounded for non-payment of fees, etc.

When the Achille Lauro had been repaired from
her fire damage, she returned to Genoa from South Africa, making a stop at Tenerife
on January 23, 1982. However, upon berthing she was boarded by the authorities
and immediately placed under arrest and this great ship remained detained in Tenerife for a full year. Finally on January 22, 1983 MS
Achille Lauro was permitted to depart thanks to Italian Government
intervention. She headed to her homeport Genoa,
but upon arrival she was once again laid up on January 28, 1983.

It must have been all too much, for the
company founder, Mr. Achille Lauro sadly died on November 15, 1983 a man who
built a fine Shipping Company, having seen it during the days when his company
was flourishing, but when these two new ships arrived into his beloved company
and with the downturn of traffic in the 1960s & 70s and the ongoing
disasters, his beloved company was now close to ruins!

However the Achille Lauro once again returned
to her cruise duties in July 1984, making five of her regular 14-night Eastern Mediterranean cruises. However, at the end she
was laid up again.

Achille
Lauro seen in Naples
during her short 1994 cruise season

The Greek Shipping giant, Chandris Lines came
to the party in 1985, and came into an agreement with Flotta Lauro Lines making
a charter agreement to operate the MS Achille Lauro from Genoa some 20 cruises each year for the next
three years, commencing on March 5, 1985. Little did anyone know that it would
be in 1985 that the name of the cruise ship Achille Lauro would sadly entered
the history books and etched into people’s memories forever that very
same year!

She departed on her first cruise on March 5,
1985 and she being well marketed by Chandris, British, and American Companies,
she was reasonably successful! Her cruises gained more and more popularity with
the majority of passengers being from Britain,
the USA, and South Africa and even as far as Australia and New Zealand.

The
Achille Lauro is seen during one of her cruises berthed in Istanbul

MS Achille Lauro the
Infamous October Cruise in 1985:

As the first Chandris charter season was
slowly coming towards an end of what had been an excellent first season, the
Achille Lauro departed Genoa on October 3, 1985 for a 11-day cruise, visiting;
Naples, Alexandria, Port Said, Ashdod, Limassol, Rhodes, Piraeus, Capri and
then back to Genoa.

Onboard were 755 passengers and very quickly
passengers onboard had settled into a happy routine of shipboard life. There
were all the usual sports tournaments, of quoits, shuffleboard, and pool games,
but enjoying reading a book in one of the ships many lounges, or having a lazy
afternoon around the pool with a cool drink was another popular sport. In the
evening there was fine dinning, followed by entertainment and dancing and of
course not to forget the famed midnight buffets. Also at night polish dancers
who would add a touch of class with Ballet performances. Thus there was much to
keep passengers busy onboard as well as whilst visiting their first ports of
call, being Naples and many undertook a tour to Pompeii.

Onboard the Achille Lauro was Leon (69 Years)
and Marilyn (58 Years) Klinghoffer who had decided to celebrate their 36th
wedding anniversary by taking a
cruise aboard the Italian cruise ship. Mr. Klinghoffer was disabled and
partially paralyzed man having had two strokes earlier and therefore he was in
a wheelchair. His dear wife Marilyn also had a poor time with her health for
some time, but at this time she was in remission from colon cancer. However,
the couple decided to take a vacation, knowing from experience that a vacation
would do them great deal of good.

Mr & Mrs Leon & Marilyn Klinghoffer.

The Achille Lauro arrived at Alexandria
on October 7, and she dropped anchor, and tenders soon transported 666
passengers who left the ship in order to undertake an exciting full day
excursion to Cairo,
visiting the Pyramids and the Sphinx as well as shopping, but Marilyn and Leon
remained aboard. Thus besides the Klinghoffer’s there were just 87 other
passengers still onboard, however, there were four others on the ship that had
been noticed, but somehow been left to their own devices. Several passengers
had noticed four Arabs (Palestinians) who had boarded the ship at Genoa as passengers, yet
they kept completely to themselves and did not take part in any of the
shipboard activities. One of the Achille Lauro hostesses later recalled asking
the young men regarding their nationality and receiving the improbable and
barely intelligible reply of “Norwegian.” No one will ever
understand why nothing was ever reported to the Captain and this was a major
failure of the crew!

Once passengers had disembarked at Alexandria to head off for their tours, Captain Gerardo De
Rosa ordered the anchor to be raised, and the Achille Lauro was heading for Port Said, at the northern approach to the Suez Canal, under a brilliant blue sky. It would be
there, late that evening, she was scheduled to collect her tour passengers and
then proceed to the Israeli port
of Ashdod.

However, just four hours after the Achille
Lauro had left Alexandria,
the four Arabs, who turned out to be members of the murderous PLO Terrorist
Group, armed with Soviet-made submachine guns, hand grenades, as well as
explosives, and seized the ship. They were firing their weapons wildly; the
terrorists used the ship's loudspeaker system to summon all passengers to the
dining room. “We were getting ready for dessert,” one of the
American passengers, Viola Meskin of Union, New
Jersey later recalled, “when suddenly we heard gunshots, and someone
yelled, ‘Get down on the floor!’ We heard moaning and groaning. The
bandits had struck men in the kitchen, we were told. Then they started to
threaten us and show their power. They had hand grenades in their hands, and
they would remove the pins and play with them. They constantly had their guns
ready for shooting. We were all on the floor.” Later on, the gunmen
separated the Americans and British from the others and placed gasoline cans
close to them.

On the bridge, one of the
gunmen fired more shots and then ordered De Rosa to sail in a North Easterly
direction toward the Syrian port
of Tartus. A
hijacker brandishing a submachine gun kept De Rosa under constant guard.

That night, as the ship was cruising about 30
miles north of Port Said,
De Rosa made contact with Egyptian port authorities by radio and told them what
had happened. The hijackers, who had identified themselves as members of the
P.L.O., demanded the release of the 50 prisoners being held in Israel. Among
these was Sami Kuntar a well-known terrorist who in
1979, with three others, had staged an attack on the northern Israeli town of Nahariya,
killing three people. If their demands were not met, the hijackers of the
Achille Lauro warned, they would blow up the ship.

At exactly what point these sadistic threats
became reality is not known. But in a now familiar ritual of terrorism, the
hijackers had decided to underscore their seriousness by taking a sacrifice.
First they separated Mr. Leon Klinghoffer from his wife. “No,” said
one gunman to the wheelchair-bound passenger. “You stay. She goes.”
Marilyn Klinghoffer never saw her husband again. For the next 24 hours she and
her friends were consumed by anxiety. When the hijacking was finally over, they
looked all through the ship for him, though they expected the worst. Some
passengers had noted that the trousers and shoes of one of the hijackers had
been covered with blood. And besides as one recalled, “We had heard
gunshots and a splash.” Giovanni Migliuolo the
Italian Ambassador to Egypt,
later chillingly reconstructed the event: “The hijackers pushed
(Klinghoffer) in his chair and dragged him to the side of the ship, where, in
cold blood, they fired a shot to the forehead. Then they dumped the body into
the sea, together with the wheelchair.”

Mr. Leon
Klinghoffer seen aboard the Achille Lauro prior to arrival at Alexandria

Mr. Leon Klinghoffer was the only passenger
murdered aboard the Achille Lauro, and it is believed that he was singled out
by these animals who had taken control of the ship
because he was Jewish! Leon
was brought back onboard the ship and he was sent home to be given a proper
Jewish burial. Sadly Marilyn passed away just four months later on February 9,
1986 from a reoccurrence of cancer.

achillefire1; Leon and Marilyn are buried
together at the “BethDavidMemorial Park”
Kenilworth, NewJersey, USA.

After various demands, the Egyptian
authorities gave the hijackers permission to leave the ship without punishment.
As they left the ship, they made a victorious lap around the harbour, soon
after they departed by plane. However, the American authorities forced them
down over Sicily.
In the meantime, the Egyptian government retained the Achille Lauro, in
retaliation. Eight days later, the Achille Lauro returned to her homeport. PS:
One of the terrorists was captured by the Americans during the 2003 war in Iraq.

This terrible event had a massive impact on
the cruise industry in the region, for it effectively destroyed Eastern Mediterranean cruises operated by so many cruise
companies! American simply refused to cruise the region for a good number of years.

After the horrific Cruise in October on 1985
the Achille Lauro abandoned the rest of her last few cruises and remained in Genoa and she continued
her regular cruise schedule in March 1986. Amazingly, just a month later on
April 6, she ran aground off Alexandria,
but she was refloated thankfully without any damage suffered seven hours later.
But her troubled times just seemed to follow her and it seemed that a change
was needed, and that would come with a takeover!

Reflagged under StarLauro
& her Return to Australia
& New Zealand
Waters:

The Achille Lauro continued her services;
although she was reflagged early in 1987 when the Flotta Lauro Line was taken
over by “Mediterranean Shipping Company” who is better known these
days as MSC Cruises, and the new company became known as
“StarLauro.”

The first
postcard released by StarLauro

With
Achille Lauro having gained a new life she was sent to Australia.
However, as she had been operating in South African waters during the latter
months of 1986, she departed from there, with 600 passengers aboard of whom 382
were migrants to Australia
and she arrived in Fremantle on January 14, 1987.

A superb
postcard of the StarLauro cruise ship MS Achille Lauro in South African waters

Whilst in Fremantle (Perth)
Western Australia she had been chartered by
Motive Travel for a month to be used as an accommodation ship in Fremantle
during the “America’s
Cup” races, which Australia
won that year, being the very first time the USA actually lost! Whilst in
Fremantle, she would make trips out, just to watch the day’s races,
whilst on other days, the Achille Lauro would make
daylight voyages to nowhere. The news did get around that she was an amazing
ship and the food and service was amazing, and all this ensured her future
return to Australia.
Even prior to her arrival to Fremantle, a brochure had been released for her
return line voyage to the Britain
and Genoa, sailing via South Africa,
offering attractive fares.

She departed Fremantle on February 16, 1987
sailing to South Africa onto
Southampton and to Genoa where she resumed her
regular summer Eastern Mediterranean cruise
duties mid March until late October.

The good news was that Achille Lauro would
head for Australia again,
sailing via Fremantle and arriving in Melbourne
on Friday January 26, 1990 and in Sydney,
on Sunday January 28.

The
beautiful MS Achille Lauro was finally back in Sydney after an 18-year
absence!

She then made an 11 night South Pacific Cruise
returning to Sydney on February 8, and that evening she departed for a line
voyage to Southampton sailing via Melbourne (AU), Fremantle (AU), Port Louis
(Mauritius), Durban (South Africa), Cape Town (SA), Jamestown (St Helena),
Funchal (Madeira), Southampton (UK).

The
Achille Lauro Returns to Australia
and is seen departing Fremantle bound for Melbourne and Sydney in January 1991

The Achille Lauro returned in 1991 and having
arrived in Sydney, she commenced operating 7
cruises of the Pacific as well as cruises around New Zealand and shorter specialty
cruises. Cruises started from 3 to 19 nights and the season concluded on Friday
April 26, 1991.

Accommodations:
It is interesting to note that for her line voyages as well as her Australian
cruises duties her accommodation changed from the European capacity of just a
maximum of 800 passengers to a maximum capacity of 1,343 passengers, using all
berths onboard.

StarLauro decided to make a special
promotional video in 1991, which was at first released to travel agents and
then was made available to whoever wished to show it. You can now view this
close to 20-minute video on YouTube - To View Click
HERE.

However StarLauro had already released
its 1991/92 Achille Cruise brochure.

However, having operated a number of cruises
out of the United Kingdom,
she would depart Southampton again in November and head for Australia arriving in Sydney on Sunday December 15, 1991. This
would be her most extensive season of cruises as she would operate 13 South
Pacific and New Zealand
cruises, including several shorter specialty cruises.

Note there
is a crew lifeboat drill going on whilst the ship is in port

At the completion of Cruise number 24, on
which the Achille Lauro departed Sydney on Sunday April 26, and visited Noumea
April 29, Lifou (New Caledonia), Pentecost Island (Vanuatu), Abrym Volcanoes (Vanuatu), Port Vila (Vanuatu), sail
through the Havannah-Boulari Passages (New Caledonia) and arrived back to
Sydney on Wednesday May 6, at 6.30 AM.

MS Achille
Lauro has just concluded her 1991, 1992 cruise season and is about to depart

Sydney for the very last time and
return to Southampton from Sydney
on May 6, 1992

Photo
sent provided by a supporter, but photographer is unknown - Please see photo
notes at the bottom of the page

MS Achille Lauro final departure from Sydney
was at 4 PM on Wednesday May 6, 1992 packed with passengers heading off for an
adventure and many well wishers ashore, she slowly backed away from the
“International Passenger Terminal” at Circular Quay and soon, with
the aid of tugs her bow slowly turned towards Sydney Heads and she set sail
with the blue ship looking a magnificent sight with the sun setting on her as
she sailed through Sydney Heads and then she turned South and headed for
Melbourne May 8, Fremantle May 13, Port Louis May 21, Durban, May 25, Cape Town
May 28, Jamestown June 1, Funchal June 9, arriving in Southampton on June 13
being the conclusion of her final voyage from Down Under!

Her story continues, but sadly not for much
longer: At Achille Lauro Page Four!

Where the ships of the past make history&the story of the 1914 built MV Doulos

If requesting
Passenger or Crew Lists or Sailing Schedules, I am sorry your email will be Deleted!

I
receive hundreds of requests and I simply do not have any lists or schedules
available.

Please
Note:
ssmaritime
and associated sites are 100% non-commercial and the author does not seek
funding or favours and never have and never will.

Photographs
on ssmaritime and associate pages are either by the author or from the
author’s private collection. In addition there are some images and
photographs that have been provided by Shipping Companies or private
photographers or collectors. Credit is given to all contributors, however,
there are some photographs provided to me without details regarding the
photographer or owner concerned. Therefore, I hereby invite if owners of these
images would be so kind to make them-selves known to me; my email address can
be only be found at www.ssmaritime.com in order that due
credit may be given.